By the Books

Chapter 3

The next day after school, I hopped into a car with Rubin and we headed to the mall. The ride was filled with her songs, including some electric. And turned up high, was deafening. When we arrive, we headed right to a big Urban Outfitters and I was shoved nearly immediately into a dressing room.

"Start undressing, and I'll be back with a suit." She said, and left. I was thrown off confused. How could she even know my size, and wasn't she getting anything to wear? Within a minute, she threw a suit over the door, and I changed, trying not to crease any of it.

"It's too tight, Rubin." I said. I heard a reply and then another suit, with the same design came over. I put it on and realized it was nice and snug. I opened the door when I was done, and saw that Rubin was waiting. Her eyes looked me up and down.

"Are you checking me out?" I asked her after a minute of her just staring. She blinked and blushed. 

"No, just checking every corner of it." She said, then turned and picked up a different suit. "Try this one on." I took it and changed into it. When I came back out, she checked it and nodded.

"This'll do just fine." She said briskly walked away with the other suits to put away. I checked it out in the mirror. A gray suit jacket, with a thin, stiff, up collar. A white shirt that tucked in just fine and looked brisk with the set. And the pants were black velvet skinnies. 

I changed back into my regular clothes and brought the set out with me. Then, Rubin payed for the things and we left.

"You know, you didn't have to pay for it." I told her. She shook her head and showed me the green credit card.

"I make a lot out of business. So there's no worry in that." She said. I shrugged it off and we headed to a girl store. Forever 21. I was expecting her to take a while to choose something, but she chose something nearly immediately. She zoomed to the changing room, and then she called out to me.

"Leo, could you zip me up?" She called. As unnerving that sounded I sighed and slowly walked in. SHe face away from me, holding up her dress to her front. I found the zipper, and zipped her up. Slowly, trying not to get any of her hair caught. After a few seconds in the awkward silence, she finally cleared her throat and turned to me.

"What do you think?" She asked and spun once for me. I let my gaze travel down her body and nodded.

"It's pretty." I said. She nodded and turned to the mirror inspecting herself more. It was a lovely dress. A beige-cream color. Smooth top, showing the little cleavage she had. Wow. Totally wrong thing to say. A flowing skirt that ended just below the knee. With that, she nodded in approval and pushed me out, slamming the door behind me. She slipped out of the changing room and she payed. We left the store and we headed to most likely the last place to go. The shoe store. We walked in and she immediately went to the men section.

"Size?" I told her my size and she went right to looking. She finally chose a pair of black, polished dress shoes and we went to the woman's section.

"Why don't you just use a dress you have at home?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"Because my mom is all about only wearing things once and stuff like that." She said, focusing on her task at hand. I nodded and watched her pick out a pair of beige, glossy flats. She looked at them in approval and we payed again. Once we were done, we went to the food court, and this time I convinced Rubin to let me pay for everything. We sat at a table in a quiet corner and we ate some fries.

"So, you are really fast at choosing things." I said, from the observation I had noticed along the shopping trip. She nodded and swallowed her food.

"Yeah. After so many times of shopping, I have learned not to really care. Because she really only cares to see the dress once. Just choose something flashy and go with it." She said plainly.  I nodded.

"And your mom," I said. "Is she some kind of uptight housewife or something?" She looked at me amused.

"No, she runs Field's Industries. She'e the CEO." She said and I looked at her surprised.

"But, I thought that your dad was a CEO?" I said, cluelessly. She laughed and nodded.

"He is, but so is my mom. My mom got her company when her dad retired. And my dad got his business from his parents. And then my parents married and they have their own businesses. Just now, their businesses work together." She said, putting her hands together and a way to show the merge of the two companies. I nodded at the complex family degrees.

"Then, when your parents retire, who gets what?" I asked. She nodded and thought for a second.

"Well, Danny declared around 1 or 2 years ago, he had no interest in running a business. So, my dad's business is going to be passed onto my cousin. And then, my mom's business will be passed onto me." She explained and I nodded.

"Do you have a bad relationship with your parents? Is that why you don't like going home?" I asked. She shook her head.

"When I was told about my inheritance for the first tie, I had a long talk with my mom. And she told me that I should be out there as much as possible. Because once I had the business, there wouldn't be time to run around playing. So, I took the advice." She said, sighing and stirring her drink. "I've seen my mom. She never has a break. She goes on a vacation with us, as a family, maybe once or twice a year, and then she is back to work. And from this, I really do understand that I have to use my freedom now, to the furthest extent." I nodded, and looked at the girl sitting across from my in awe.

She had a huge pressure on her shoulders for being the next heiress of her mother's business, and here she was. Being a faithful daughter, and taking advantage of her time. Then another question surfaced.

"How come you don't hang out with a gang. Like, a large group of friends?" I asked. She smiled sadly and shrugged.

"A tale for another time." She said, cleared her throat and got up. "We should be heading back to change." I nodded and pulled out my phone.

"Let me just phone my mom. To tell her I'm going over with you." I said and pulled out my phone from my pocket. She nodded and walked away, throwing away her trash. I called mum, and we left to go back to the school.

---

After we changed and left the school building, we got into the car. As Rubin drove, she made weird noises.

"What are you doing?" I asked, watching her. She stopped and smiled at me.

"I am going to be surrounded by business people all evening long. And in this point of my life, soon my bonds will effect my position with I beginning business." She said, still making the noise. I nodded and turned the radio.

"Well, how about we just listen to the radio until we arrive. Less awkward sounds, right?" I said, smiling at her. She looked at me and then shrugged.

"Just avoiding a sour throat." She said. And we arrived to her house. Well, not house. Mansion.

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Hey people. Look at me. Being an awesome person. Wow, way to big of a compliment and rise for my ego. But wut ever. I'm going to go back to the real world later.

Here is you beloved chapter. I'll publish something else soon. But, til then. Bye bye!

-flowerweb